Painting and drawing programs teach people to express ideas and feelings using paint and drawing tools. Students learn to use oils, acrylics, watercolors, paintbrushes, pens, and pencils to create lines and shapes. They learn to shade using charcoal and graphite. Besides studying how to shade and draw in perspectives, students learn to mix colors and prepare canvases.
Paintings and drawings may be inspired by the beauty in people, animals, or the environment. They may be inspired by religious devotion and perceptions that depart from conventional ways to see things. Artists are often inspired by affection for a certain place or person. Paintings and drawings were our first "photographs," but the pleasure of creating art by hand has not diminished even with photographs available.
In painting and drawing programs, your course work teaches you basic art principles such as art history, drawing skills, color theory, and design. You also study the human body to learn principles of sketching portraits and making good likenesses. After these foundation courses, typically you then concentrate on a specific medium. For example, you can concentrate on oil painting or drawing using pen and ink. Or, you can concentrate on using watercolor paints. In addition, you can focus your work on painting or sketching realistic portraits or creating bold abstracts.
You also learn basic skills such as color mixing and how to prepare different supports, from paper to canvas to Masonite. Most courses are designed to give you ample time in a studio where you create your own style and focus on a particular method of creating your pieces.
Many colleges and universities offer programs that lead to the bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree and the master of fine arts (MFA) degree. Community colleges and independent schools of art and design also offer studio training and programs in art. They may lead to associate of art (AA) degrees. Independent art schools may also grant BFA degrees. They focus more intensively on studio work while colleges and universities offer more in the way of general requirements in addition to studio work.
It takes four to five years after high school to earn a BFA degree and six to seven years to earn an MFA degree. The MFA is considered a "terminal" degree, meaning that you do not need a doctorate if you desire to teach at the college level. However, a few schools do offer doctorate degrees in painting and drawing. Keep in mind that graduate study is almost always offered through a larger art and fine arts program, so be sure to read this program of study as well.